Allman Brothers drummer loves to jazz it up, too

John Johanson is best known as “Jaimoe.” And “founding member of the Allman Brothers Band” is the phrase that normally precedes his nickname.

But the laidback drummer also leads another act, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, which will perform Saturday at the Theatre of the Living Arts.

“I guess there’s a couple names you can call me and a couple of bands you can attach me to,” Johanson says. “As long as I’m making music, I’m happy.”

When he started drumming during the ’60s, he never envisioned that he would join a group that is referred to as the “Godfathers of jam-rock.”

“I thought I was going to become the world’s greatest jazz drummer,” the 67-year-old says, laughing. “I thought I would one day be in the Jazz Hall of Fame and what happens? I join a band which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have no complaints. It’s been an honor to be in the Allmans.”

An honor, the lifetime achievement Grammy, will be given to the Allmans in February at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

“It’s humbling,” Johanson says. “But the Allman Brothers Band is an original. Before the Allmans, you had so many rock bands copy other artists, but (the late) Duane (Allman) and Gregory (Allman) aren’t followers. I’m proud to be part of that band. I thought I was going to be this great jazz player, but I couldn’t be happier how things turned out.”

He also has made his mark outside of the Allmans. He was Otis Redding’s drummer in 1966, two years before he joined the seminal act.

“Much like the Allmans, Otis was one of a kind,” Johanson says. “Nobody sings like Otis. There were three things Otis loved. He loved ladies, he loved to smoke pot and he loved music.”

Patti LaBelle and Percy Sledge are some of the other luminaries Johanson backed in ‘66.

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate,” he says. “1966 was a great year for me.”

It appears that 2012 isn’t a bad time for Johanson, either. Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band is touring behind the solid and varied album “Renaissance Man.”

Johanson clearly has a blast jumping genres. He and the band, which includes dynamic vocalist-guitarist Junior Mack, effortlessly travel from blues to funk to soul to jazz.

“I’m doing everything that I want to do,” Johanson says. “You can’t ask for more that that. That just doesn’t end with the album. Live, we do Beatles songs and (Jimi) Hendrix tunes. We do what we want.

“It’s been great to be able to do so many things at this point in my career. It’s very satisfying.”